Question

A restriction fragment containing a specific gene of interest can be identified by gel electrophoresis followed by transferring the DNA to a membrane as a solid support matrix using a procedure called:
A) Gene amplification
B) Southern blotting
C) Identification of a gene
D) Me Clintock

Answer 1

Hint: It is a DNA hybridization technique to locate a specific DNA sequence of interest, in a sample or test DNA.
Principle: Hybridization of labelled complementary oligonucleotide (to the sequence of interest) sequence to the denatured target DNA. The binding is detected using an autoradiogram, which helps to identify the presence of the DNA sequence of interest.

Complete step-by-step answer:
Southern blotting technique is used to transfer DNA to a membrane as a solid support matrix. For southern blotting first of all the DNA is digested using restriction endonucleases then the gene of interest is identified by gel electrophoresis then DNA is transferred to nylon or nitrocellulose membrane after that membrane is baked at 80 degrees to immobilize DNA. And then it is exposed to a probe or sequence complementary to the DNA of interest, now the hybridization probe will bind to any complementary sequence present in the test DNA. Then radioactivity is detected by autoradiography. The site of fluorescence represents the complementary DNA sequences present in test DNA.
Gene amplification is a process to increase the number of copies of a gene.
Identification of a gene is used to identify our gene of interest and gel electrophoresis is used in the identification of a gene.
Therefore the correct answer is Option B.

Note: Southern blotting can be used to analyze DNA libraries, used to identify methylated sites in a DNA sequence using methylation-sensitive restriction enzymes, also used to find mutations in a gene, identifies infectious microorganisms related to a disease.